All for Lord Zeref
by Durbe the Barian
Summary: He no longer wished to kill people. He started to seal his demons away, but they were convinced that something was the matter with him.


**Fairy Tail**

**All for Lord Zeref**

**Angst**

**Zeref**

**He no longer wished to kill people. He started to seal his demons away, but they were convinced that something was the matter with him. **

**(I don't own Fairy Tail.)**

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><p>All for Lord Zeref<p>

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><p>Zeref looked down at the Etherious member's work with a lethargic eye.<p>

Gone.

An entire village, turned to rubble through the use of Jackal's Bomb Curse. He knew that the demon would be expecting praise from his master, but Zeref could in no way muster up the courage to speak the words desired. Instead, he could only stare, countless thoughts swirling through his mind as he struggled to understand.

It wasn't the first time Zeref had seen his demons attack randomly. Before it had been Mard Geer, turing a merchant guild into a maze of thorns and vines. And before him, it was Keith, who had just watched as his Mashuyoshi destroyed an entire magical guild.

And before even him, it was Deliora.

The list went on forever.

The list of his demons, as well as the list of villages and cities that had fallen to their Curses.

Curses...

Death...

Never before had death affected him so. In fact, he had actually found himself reveling in the defeat of his opponents once in a rare while, even if they were absolutely defenseless.

But not anymore. Now, it sickened him to take the life of even the smallest of creatures.

Almost to the point of making him retch.

Without a word, he fell to his knees and dug his fingers into the soft dirt.

He could no longer go down this path of destruction and death.

No more.

No more...

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><p>Unfortunately, his decision of ceasing such disasters had remained unspoken of to his Etherious demons. He had yet to find the words to best explain it to them without either breaking their hearts or betraying their trust. Such a decision meant that the Etherious were left without a purpose.<p>

They would have to be sealed away for the rest of eternity. They were too dangerous for even their own safety, let alone the safety of the world.

And he knew that they would not desire such a thing any more than he would.

So he kept silent. He permitted them their freedom for but a while longer.

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><p>But his silence was not to last.<p>

Mard Geer was the first to discover the truth. Or, at the very least, the first to have his suspicions aroused.

He had chosen to take a quick walk through the halls of Tatarus, E.N.D.'s book resting in his hands just as usual. The hallways were empty and dark, but Mard Geer did not mind in the slightest. In fact, he preferred it. The shadows made him feel more at home.

After exiting the halls, Mard Geer then found himself in the courtyard of Tatarus. It was then that the moon was able to see him. If it were capable, however, it would have turned away and allowed him to rot in his sweet darkness.

He would rather destroy the moon, however, then allow it to flee from his presence.

Such thoughts were cast aside, however, when he heard the mumbling of his master not too far away from him.

Curious, Mard Geer gripped E.N.D.'s book all the tighter as he walked forward, wondering what Zeref could possibly have been doing that night.

Or, for that matter, all the other nights he had snuck out of his room, seeking solitude.

He remained silent, knowing that Lord Zeref would hate being spoken to when he was busy.

By the time he reached Lord Zeref's location, he wished he had the strength to speak against him.

Lullaby was resting in Zeref's hands, sealing cloth wrapped around its flute-like form. "Thank you for your service, Lullaby," he said. "You may rest now."

Mard Geer's eyes had widened until they were the size of the book in his hand. He had sealed one of their brothers away without even batting an eye. Was that where all their previous brethren had disappeared to?

Deliora?

The demons of Nemesis?

Would they soon suffer the same fate?

Such thoughts danced in Mard Geer's head as he backed away from Lord Zeref, shocked at his master's actions.

"Lord...Zeref...?"

His fears only increased as Zeref's face suddenly seemed peaceful, contrary to the saddened, almost lonely expression Zeref had been wearing. While any Etherious demon would have been overjoyed at the thought of their master perking up again, what Mard Geer had just witnessed was enough to make him despise that peaceful expression.

For the man behind it was not their Lord Zeref.

* * *

><p>"Lord Zeref...what did you say?" Kyouka asked in disbelief, her hands glued to her sides through sheer willpower if nothing else.<p>

Zeref could not bring himself to return the glares given to him by six of his strongest demons. It was understandable that they would hope their ears were failing them at such a point. He would wish for something like that were he in their situation. But he had gone on for too long. No longer could he keep the truth from them.

They had to know, even if it meant they hated him later.

"You all have done your duties beyond perfection," he said. "I shall be forever grateful for your undying loyalty. However," he forced himself to look up at them all; "I no longer wish to see you all take the lives of others. The time for war has long since ended for all of us."

"So you are going to seal us all away?" Tempesta asked, not at all holding back with his biting words.

"After everything we have done!?" Jackal growled.

Zeref could only lower his head again. He had predicted such reactions from the whole lot of them.

He could only speak words of apology.

"Lord Zeref," Keith began, "what has happened to you?"

"Nothing has happened," Zeref responded. "I have simply opened my eyes to a new light. A light I hope to offer to all of you as well." He held his hand out to the Etherious before him. "I would rather not seal you all for eternity. Not after all you have done for me."

The demons looked at each other worriedly.

"Lord Zeref," Mard Geer suddenly spoke up, "are you certain that you are yourself?"

Zeref only looked at Mard Geer curiously.

"You never spoke of such things before," Mard Geer continued. "You're not yourself, Lord Zeref!"

"I assure you, I am quite myself."

"No, you're not!" a few of the demons spat.

"Lord Zeref would not ask such a thing of us!" Jackal shouted.

"And he never once thought about sealing us away," Torafusa added, keeping his composure as best as he could.

"In the beginning, that was most certainly the case," Zeref admitted. "But now...I have discovered true value. And I...I would like all of you to discover it as well. Your powers can do more than destroy." A small smile formed on Zeref's face. "I know it. They may be called 'curses,' but I'm sure you can do much more than just destroy humans and wage war." He kept his hand out for a moment longer. "I know you can."

The demons could only remain silent, their bodies trembling with understandable rage.

"You truly believe that...Lord Zeref?" Mard Geer asked, gritting his teeth in frustration.

Zeref paused, then nodded his head. "I do."

"If that is the case, then you are truly no longer our Lord Zeref."

Such were the words of Keith, who had taken to walking around his master to judge whether or not he was still fit. By the time he had uttered that sentence, he was standing behind Zeref, who could only turn around before the demon had thrown his tainted air in the Black Wizard's direction.

In the time it took for him to blink, Zeref was enveloped in the shadow of the Mashuyoshi.

"K-Keith!" Zeref exclaimed. "What is the meaning of this!?" Any further words were caught in his throat as a hacking fit attacked his body.

"M-Mashuyoshi!" he mentally screamed, covering his mouth as the dark air overwhelmed him.

"We serve Lord Zeref," Keith explained. "As of right now, you are not Lord Zeref."

"What?"  
>"Lord Zeref doesn't care about life," Jackal said. "He's the darkest creature this world has ever seen."<p>

Zeref hung his head slightly as he fought to keep his breath. Thus far, he was failing, the Mashoyushi succeeding in hindering him more than he had first thought.

"Lord Zeref," Kyouka began, "please understand."

Body trembling, Zeref then fell to his knees, his hands gripping his arms as everything grew heavier, the tainted air blowing away from him.

"Until you can be who you once were," Mard Geer finally spoke up, walking up to the suffering Black Wizard, "you cannot be our master."

"M-Mard... Geer," Zeref coughed.

Mard Geer then raised his hand into the air. "This is for your own good," he said, "...Lord Zeref."

All went black shortly thereafter, with Mard Geer's hand falling against the side of Zeref's face.

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><p><em>"<em>_Immortality Curse... Use it well...Lord Zeref."_

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><p>His heart was tearing itself apart.<p>

His mind was flying through the past, wondering where he had gone wrong.

His body was wracked with fever, every muscle of his being aching from the effects of Mashuyoshi.

It had even begun to hurt just to breathe in the clean air around him.

"Zeref...wake up. Now."

Zeref could offer no answer to the words that rang in his ears. Everything felt as if he were paralyzed.

"Zeref!"

That time, he was able to respond, though the bellow had succeeded in making him feel worse. His eyes opened only slightly, allowing him to see the magnificent sight of a red dragon.

One with a great many battle scars and a powerful glare.

Igneel the Flame Dragon King.

He was flying.

And Zeref was resting in his claws.

"What is the matter with you, brat?" Igneel growled. "I've never seen you so pathetic."

Zeref could offer no words in his defense. His voice seemed elsewhere. Instead, he lowered his head and gave a soft grin.

Yes. He was pathetic. Nothing he said would convince him otherwise.

Nothing.

"What happened to you?" Igneel grumbled.

Zeref forced his head up so he could look at Igneel's face.

Igneel's strangely blurry face.

He blinked a few times, hoping to clear his vision, only to find that it wasn't helping. If anything, he felt that it only made it harder to see.

"Zeref?"

"K-Ke...i...th...," was the only thing Zeref was able to say before everything grew darker.

"Zeref?" Igneel called out, quickly noticing the lack of response. "Zeref!"

His pale face and shivering form was more than enough to make Igneel increase his speed.

It felt to him as if Zeref was dying.

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><p>(Meanwhile)<p>

"Mard Geer," Kyouka called out, entering the throne room of Tatarus with a solemn expression.

"Whatever is the matter, Kyouka?" Mard Geer asked, raising his head from the heel of his palm.

Kyouka chose not to speak immediately. "Will...Lord Zeref be coming back?" she finally spoke up. "Keith used quite a bit of his Mashuyoshi. If he doesn't recover-"

Mard Geer only smiled, stopping Kyouka's words in an instant. "He will," he answered. "Mard Geer is certain of it. He will come back. And as our great Lord Zeref." His smile increased. "I've made sure of it."

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><p>For a week, Zeref was resting under the care of Grandeeney, fighting off the poison that Keith had given him in a fit of fury. Even her incredible healing power, a gift which was second to none, could not cure what was ailing him. She could only succeed in soothing his pain.<p>

The world remained dark for him, regardless of whether or not it was night or day. In the little time he was awake, it felt painful to so much as breathe. Even opening his eyes was a chore in itself.

And by the time he was well enough to sit up again, he had discovered a curse.

Curse of Death.

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><p>His eyes opened up to a world of a soft, peaceful glow. Birds were chirping outside his window, something that felt strangely like music to his ears. Feeling more well-rested than he had ever been in quite a long time, Zeref risked returning aches and forced himself up to sit up in his bed. "Where am I...?" he thought to himself, eyes half-lidded as he looked around the small hut.<p>

A grassy carpet and pure white walls, flowers blooming between the cracks.

"A hut?" he asked himself, looking down to his half-bare chest. "Why...am I...?"

With the blink of an eye, Keith's face flashed through his mind, the memories of the previous week's talk with the Tatarus members.

Such a miserable failure, though Keith's reaction was something he hadn't expected.

"How am I still alive?" Zeref asked himself, getting out of bed as he adjusted his shirt. "Keith's Mashuyoshi is extremely fatal to Mages...so how did I survive?"

He thought about it for only a moment, but no longer than that.

He wasn't able to, for once he glanced back to the ground, he quickly found something that could only be described as a horror.

The grass had died beneath his feet.

"W-What?"

Death Magic. But he hadn't given the command to kill.

And once his eyes were raised to the walls of the hut, he found that the flowers were wilting away.

His pale hands were clapped over his mouth as he struggled to understand what was happening. His breath had all but faded as he raced out of the hut, his complexion growing sickly as even the trees died in his presence.

"What's going on?" he thought, fear bleeding into his every word. "Why can't I...control it? Why?"

By the time he reached a small pond, what energy he had gained from his fright was depleted, forcing him to fall on his stomach, scratching his arm as he hit the rocky ground. Biting down his pain, he looked down at the dirt and grass.

The dead grass.

"Why is my magic behaving like this?" he asked frightfully. "This...shouldn't be happening..."

His hands began to tremble as he looked at his dirtied palms.

Death Magic.

Uncontrolled Death Magic.

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><p><em>"<em>_Remember, Zeref," said his master to a young Zeref, "the magic of Death is a sensitive art. You must be willing to take life without mercy."_

_"__Really? Why?" Zeref asked, clutching a book to his chest._

_His master grinned almost maliciously. "If you value life, your magic will be out of your control. You must reject this world if you wish to use the Black Arts."_

_Zeref only looked down at the book in his hands. "Reject the world," he breathed. _

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><p>Zeref stared at his hands for a while longer as the memory flowed through his mind. "Reject the world," he repeated to himself. "The Black Arts..." He lowered his hands to his lap, entering a lethargic state as he stared at the glassy surface of the water. "Before, I rejected the world. Now...the world has begun to reject me..."<p>

His eyes were then cast to the sky. "Is this...my punishment?"

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><p>The Curse of Immortality and Death.<p>

The more he valued life, the more life he would take away. Unless he forgot the value of life – thereby becoming 'Lord Zeref' once again – he would never cease such mindless destruction. Never would he die. He could only cause death.

Such was his choice.

Become 'Lord Zeref' once again.

Or to suffer eternal rejection.

A choice that went on...for a good four-hundred years.

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><p><strong>D.T.B: [breathes heavily] D-Done... You... Demons. [faints] {Review please.}<strong>


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